Executable file generated by the Erlang compiler, a program used for building BEAM files from .ERL source code files; saved in a binary format, called bytecode, and can be run with the Erlang virtual machine (VM).

Erlang is a programming language used for developing scalable real-time systems for e-commerce, instant messaging, and telephony.

NOTE: BEAM files are similar to Java .CLASS files, which contain bytecode that is run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The Erjang project developed a virtual machine for Erlang that runs in Java. It loads BEAM files, converts them to the CLASS format, and then runs them with the JVM.